Early White Matter Microstructure Alterations in Infants with Down Syndrome.

Importance: Down syndrome, resulting from trisomy 21, is the most prevalent chromosomal disorder and a leading cause of intellectual disability. Despite its significant impact on brain development, research on the white matter microstructure in infants with Down syndrome remains limited.

Objective: To investigate early white matter microstructure in infants with Down syndrome using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI).

Fragmented Care and Guideline-Concordant Treatment in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer.

Objective: To characterize and estimate rates of fragmented care, to investigate its association with the receipt of guideline-concordant treatment, and to evaluate treatment components at risk with fragmented care.

Methods: This is a single-institution retrospective study of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (stage IB3-IVA) from January 2003 to September 2023. We stratified patients into fragmented and nonfragmented care groups based on receipt of all care at our institution or if they received any component of care outside of our institution.

Delay to timely treatment in locally advanced cervical cancer: insurance inequities in access to gynecologic oncology.

Background: Cervical cancer continues to disproportionately affect marginalized populations, with significant disparities in treatment and outcomes. Social determinants of health and insurance status have been associated with delays in treatment initiation, which can adversely affect clinical outcomes.

Objective: To determine the risk factors associated with delays in treatment initiation among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer and identify the time period of delay in treatment initiation.

Neuronal TDP-43 aggregation drives changes in microglial morphology prior to immunophenotype in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Microglia are the innate immune cells of the brain with the capacity to react to damage or disease. Microglial reactions can be characterised in post-mortem tissues by assessing their pattern of protein expression, or immunophenotypes, and cell morphologies. We recently demonstrated that microglia have a phagocytic immunophenotype in early-stage ALS but transition to a dysfunctional immunophenotype by end stage, and that these states are driven by TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) aggregation in the human brain.

Small-scale fire refugia increase soil bacterial and fungal richness and increase community cohesion nine years after fire.

Small-scale variation in wildfire behavior may cause large differences in belowground bacterial and fungal communities with consequences for belowground microbial diversity, community assembly, and function. Here we combine pre-fire, active-fire, and post-wildfire measurements in a mixed-conifer forest to identify how fine-scale wildfire behavior, unburned refugia, and aboveground forest structure are associated with belowground bacterial and fungal communities nine years after wildfire. We used fine-scale mapping of small (0.